To feed or not to feed... and what to feed?

[Scruff]

Since I bought Star in April she spent all summer out 24/7 on restricted grazing, as she was a bit porky, and is now in at night and out at grass in the day, about 8am - 5.30pm. She is an ok weight at the moment, but certainly doesn't need to lose more, and her workload is going up.

She is clipped and rugged, in light work going by the feed companies - worked 5-6 days a week, alternated hacking and schooling, although as she is still only 4, none of it is very intense. She has unlimited but poor quality grazing, and just under half a bale of hay a night. The hay is ok, but it was cut off a field that's not been used or fertilised for 5 years or so, so is relatively low in nutritional value.

Currently she doesn't have any hard feed at all, and I'm just wondering if she could do with a little bit. So what would people suggest? What would you feed and why? I just want to make sure she's getting plenty of nutrition and enough fuel to keep her going, and maintain the weight she's at now, but she doesn't need any sort of real build-up or any extra energy.

Any advice would be welcome, as I've always had either complete fatties who needed nothing at all, or skinny stressheads who needed more than could be physically shovelled into them, so I'm not too good on feeding

 

[Shipley]

Have you thought about something like baileys lo cal? when I first got mine he was not in enough work to feed but as the yard fed I got him lo cal and chaff (unmollased) That way he got all his minerals and did not kick the door down at feed time the chaff was t slow him down he did choke once on just nuts

 

[Scruff]

To be honest I haven't yet looked at any specific feeds, it was only really when I clipped her that I thought maybe she could do with a bit of something - she's not quite ribby, but if she loses much more, she will be. I'm just at the stage of wondering what form that "something" should take, as she's never had or needed anything at all so far.

I will look up the Baileys, thanks

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Something like Baileys Economy cubes might suit your mare. Fed at the recommended levels they would provide all the vits/mins she needed and as they are relatively low calorie shouldn't make her gain too much weight.

I'd ring round the feed companies and see what they advise :

Beth

 

[mrsbloggett]

I think you are doing just fine as you are. You could add a Lo-Cal feed balancer to make sure she is getting all her vits & mins. I'm a great believer that if a horse / pony maintains condition and has enough energy on hay alone, then that is all that should be fed.

 

[Scruff]

Mrsbloggett, I agree with you, especially as she is still young and growing, I don't want to overload her with calories, but equally I need to make sure she's getting all she needs. My only concern is that at the moment she is at the lowest weight I am happy for her to be at, and I don't want to wait until she's underweight, especially as we're heading into winter, before I do anything. I also don't want anything that is going to blow her mind - she broncs enough as it is when the wind gets up her tail!

At the moment she's just getting half a scoop of chaff when her neighbours are fed, just to occupy her little mind